My father was deeply moved when
John Wayne died back in 1979.
I have to admit I really did not understand why? I mean, you could always tell he was acting and his films were usually very predictable. I think for my Dad it marked the end of an era, somehow knowing that John Wayne was on his horse with a six-shooter, that everything was right in the world.
Lucian Freud is like that; his passing definitely marks a period in art history.
Surely one of the most important figurative artists of the 20
th Century, he repeatedly pushed the envelope and painted with an intensity that can only be described as uniquely Freudian. His paintings are often like a car wreck, you really don’t want to look, but when you do you are mesmerized. His work may not appeal to all; his life seemed to be one full of extremes where his eccentric behavior often received as much press as his work.
However this was an artist, as John Wayne would say had
True Grit.
The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.
Lucian Freud
New York Times article - Lucian Freud dies at 88.
Explore - Question - Learn - Enjoy, Jim
